Amidst protests, Lagos slashed land use charge

Last week, Lagos state government bowed to the sovereign power of the people, and reversed itself, having slashed by 50 %, the Land Use Charge in the state, from the outrageous 400 % increase it had announced earlier. TOPE MUSOWO reviews the issues, protests and wonders if there will be eventual relief for Lagosians
Power of the people Last week demonstrated to the Lagos state government that sovereignty truly belongs to the people. Following the announcement of over 400% increase in Land Use Charge in the state, which was dimmed by Lagosians, as outrageous and anti- people. Protesters in their thousands led by the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA),Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN),Committee for Defence of Human Right (CDHR), among others, besieged the Lagos State House of Assembly and the government’s house to register their disappointment with the government’s ‘killer tax’ in the name of development.
Drama A little drama however ensured when the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Abeeeb Aruba, was trying to prevent the protesters from gaining entry into the premises while instigating the security men to stop them from coming in.
The protesters who retorted back said,” we are your employers, you are being paid with our taxes and you cannot dictate for us”. It took the intervention of Lagos assembly members who told the CPS that people have the civic right to protest against any government policy they are not comfortable with and that is the beauty of democracy. Lagos state government however bowed to pressure when it announced at a press conference on Thursday, a 50% reduction in the new Land Use Charge and waived penalty for late payment across board.
Reduction The state’s Commissioner for Finance, Mr Akinyemi Ashade, who disclosed this said, the government has also reduced the charges for Owner-occupier with third party, including industries and manufacturing concerns, by 25 per cent, while tax credit has been given for LUC charges already paid in addition to introduction of instalment payment system. The commissioner said, “Consequently, we received a wide range of responses from our dialogue with various stakeholders on the amended LUC Law 2018. The stakeholders included the Organised Private Sector, Nigeria Bar Association, Real estate investors & developers, Landlord & Resident Associations, Community Development Associations, Civil Society Organisations, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries (LCCI), Nigeria Institute of Estate Surveyors &Valuers and several other professional groups.”
People’s reaction Meanwhile, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly representing Ojo Constituency 1, who is also the Chairman House Committee on Central Business Districts, Hon. Victor Akande, has accused Real Estate Operators in Lagos of not attending public hearing on the Land Use Charge when invited. The lawmaker believed if the people now complaining were at the public hearing, they would have made their point known before the process was completed Akande added, “Do you want us to stop the process, we would make do with those that were present and which we did. We listened to everybody, so there was a public hearing on it but all I will tell you is that no gain, no pain.”
Speaking on the Inclusion of Alpha Beta as the revenue collection agent in the law, Akande explained that the inclusion might be a mistake by the drafters of the law, saying that Alpha Beta has been the agent collecting such revenue on behalf of the government before now. When asked on the likely eff ect of the law on the citizens, he said, “Either you like it or not landlords would still increase their rents and they would be increasing their rents at the detriment of the government and the people.
We suppose to generate income from the particular money or from the use of the land because by virtue of the Land Use Act 1978, the whole lands are invested in the government. People that are using the land are people that are residing on it, but fortunately the tenants cannot be told to come and pay land use charge, the owner of the house would have already incorporated it in the rent. The landlord cannot be increasing rent yearly.”
On his part, Hon. Tunde Braimoh Feature representing Kosofe constituency 2, on the reduction, described Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode as a populist and welfarist governor for reviewing the controversial Land Use Charge law, 2018. Hon. Tunde Braimoh, the Chairman, House Committee on Information, Publicity, Strategy said: Democracy in its simplest and most widely accepted description is the government of the people , for the people and of the people.
Democratic experiment “In any democratic experiment, the people are sovereign and their will reign supreme. “As a populist, people-oriented government therefore, due considerations must be accorded the will of the people without materially impeding the fast tracked developmental programs earmarked by government. “Ambode runs a welfarist regime of social engineering whereby the needs, yearnings and aspirations of the people are well articulated, aggregated and evaluated such that the greatest happiness goes to the greatest number of the people. “Any policy or program of government must be benchmarked against the will of the people and it must pass the people’s happiness test. “Governor Ambode has demonstrated ultra-high -level of statesmanship and public spirit by hearkening to the people’s call.
Other stakeholders kick However, the Organised Private Sector holds a contrary view from the perspective of the lawmakers. The OPS rejected the review while it petitioned the state Finance Commissioner, Ashade, saying its request in the formal submission to government had not been addressed. The OPS said it demanded reduction in both or either of the Base Percentage Rate or (and) Assessed Market Value, insisting that the reduction announced by government fell short of expectation of the business community
Petition In a petition signed by Mr Segundo Oshinowo, OPS threatened that should government fail to address the concern of business community, it would have no other option than to go to court as it was done in 2002. A chieftain of the PDP and governorship aspirant in Lagos, Mr Adedeji Doherty said,” Lagos State is trying to impose a 400% increase in Tax on your citizens can easily tell us what you will do during your supposed 2nd Term Lagosians complained about the evil deeds of Akinwunmi Ambode on Land Use Charge, Visionscape, garbage all over the state, 85 Billion Naira deal involving Visionscape, yet Lagos APC, Members of House of Representatives, chairmen of the 57 LG/LCDA are all busy competing to endorse the same Ambode for 2nd term. How insensitive.
Disquiet “So Lagosians we are at fault. We are responsible for the pains been inflicted on us by these callous groups of individuals. It is time to get rid of APC in Lagos State or at least demand for massive change. First, Ambode must go. Ajomale must go. We should great minds to represent us at the National Assembly these cowards that endorsed Ambode for selfi sh reasons. The interest of Lagos is certainly not important to them. The insensitivity of these guys is beyond believe. Time for a real change. Come 2019, let us be ready. Tinubu does not own Lagos”, Doherty maintained. Another resident of Lagos, Mr Adeola Adelanwa, a PR. expert said, “the Lagos State government is very ambitious going by the trillion naira budget the Governor presented to the State Assembly. And to be honest there is nothing wrong with being ambitious after all we all dream about Lagos becoming a mega city. The problem arises when the sources of funding the budget makes life very difficult for the people. Clearly, Ambode has no qualms about taxing the people to death. Tolls have been increased, costs of government services such as vehicle registration have been increased. Hospital rates have gone up.
The latest is the obnoxious increase in the rates of the land use charge which have gone up by as much as 300% in some cases. All of these coming after a biting recession. “You see it is easy for Ambode to raise taxes and rates because as Governor he doesn’t know how it feels. His principals are stupendously rich and won’t feel it either because they either don’t pay or have more than enough to absorb the costs. “My challenge to Ambode is to publicly post his receipts for the payments of his land use charge from 2001 when then the law came into effect. And while we at that I extend the same challenge to Asiwaju and members of the Lagos State Exco and the Lagos State Assembly.
There cannot be a different set of rules for them and another for us. “For a government that has deliberately refused to pass the freedom of information bill just so they can avoid telling the people what and how their money is being spent to keep increasing rates and taxes is simply unacceptable”, Adeola said. A journalists, Mr Patrick Ohue, believed it was the height of insensitivity to people’s plight, to impose that kind of increase on people at this point in time.
“Ambode has no good adviser, if you think you can always take people for a ride because your fate will be decided at Bourdilon and not by the people, one day you will be shocked that the story has changed, “Fasola did the same thing with Lagos State University School fees that he increased by over 200%, too, this was later reviewed when they discovered it could aff ect their chances at the polls. “You see ,there are things you don’t do in your fi rst term if you are interested in a second term, go and ask Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who did teachers competent test, reclassification of the civil service in his fi rst term . As good as that sounded ,that was his greatest undoing at the polls” Ohue pointed out.

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